Tag: Robert R. Thomas
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Review: Why are we killing the planet? “The Myth of Human Supremacy” nails troubling answers
By Robert R. Thomas Human supremacy, according to Derrick Jensen, is a contradiction in terms. In The Myth of Human Supremacy, Jensen’s impassioned and intelligent analysis of the myth that proclaims we humans are superior beings, posits his approach with essential questions like, superior to what and whom? and the how and the why of…
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Review: “The Kremlin Playbook” depicts eroding democracies, prompting heebie-jeebies
By Robert R. Thomas While looking for a Canadian hockey channel between the interminable rash of mind-numbing commercials during the final two minutes of a basketball game, I stumbled upon the conclusion to a C-SPAN telecast of a federal intelligence hearing. I never got back to the the game. What caught my attention was mention…
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Commentary: Flint Huddle, “nasty women” inspire hope
By Robert R. Thomas Fittingly, revelation occurred in the sanctuary of Woodside Church, where I was photographed grinning like a Michigan loon in the company of 60 or so “nasty women” and men of all ages, persuasions and races. But it was “nasty women” who had convened it. I had seen the light, and it was “nasty…
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Tendaji Talks finish season with “Alchemy of the Soul” by “Dr. P,” Joyce Piert
By Robert R. Thomas “Alchemy of the Soul: An African-Centered Education,” the title of the final Tendaji Talk of the current series, is also the title of a 2015 book by Joyce Piert. Dr. P, as she is affectionately called, was the evening’s principal speaker. Donna Ullrich, representing Neighborhoods Without Borders, sponsors of the Tendaji Talks,…
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Weaver objects to state’s sudden water credit cutoff, asks “why now?”
By Robert. R. Thomas Mayor Karen Weaver held a press conference this morning in City Hall to address issues surrounding the suspension of state water credits for Flint residents. Referencing a letter she received from Governor Rick Snyder’s office last week, the mayor said she made contact with the governor to set up a meeting with…
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Racism’s roots in capitalism, education as cultural imperialism topics of latest Tendaji Talk
By Robert R. Thomas The effects of capitalism and how racism is perpetuated in schools were topics explored in a recent Tendaji Talk at the Flint Public Library by Dorinda Carter Andrews, an associate professor from the Michigan State University Department of Teacher Education. Drawing on the work of critical race theorist Derrick Bell, Andrews suggested to a…
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Book review: Flint represents “domestic terrorism,” “state-sponsored violence” in America at War with Itself
By Robert R. Thomas In his penetrating new book, America at War with Itself (City Lights Books, 2017), Henry A. Giroux devotes an early chapter to the Flint water crisis, asserting that it epitomizes a menacing “new authoritarianism” and contends that what happened here was “an act of state sponsored violence.” His Chapter Four, “Poisoned City: Flint and the…
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Book Review: NOBODY: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond
By Robert R. Thomas In the January 2016 issue of EVM, I wrote a book review of Demolition Means Progress (2015) by Andrew Highsmith, a definitive account of the reality of Flint’s last 80 years. The book arrived in my life at a time when I desperately needed to understand the Flint I had returned…
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“Tendaji Talk” turns to women of color remembering “what my mother told me”
By Robert R. Thomas Four women of color engaged an audience of 20 at the Flint Public Library recently in a Tendaji Talk titled “What my Mother Told Me; What I Told My Daughters.” Co-hosts Alexis Murphy-Morris and Trina Sanders, both African American, were joined on the panel by Rev. Mary Covington, also African American, and…
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“The new Jim Crow is the old Jim Crow,” FPL speaker asserts
By Robert R. Thomas With an engaged group of 25 in the basement of Flint Public Library recently, Hubert Roberts led a conversation about “The New Jim Crow,” both Michelle Alexander’s eponymous book and the reality. The conversation was part of the Tendaji Talks series, sponsored by Neighborhoods Without Borders,…
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